Thursday, May 26, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Food stamps increasingly common in Connecticut's suburbs
The Hartford Courant reports that Connecticut's affluent and middle-class towns saw the greatest percentage increase in the number of residents receiving food stamps between 2007 and 2010.
"The increase was partly driven by changes in income eligibility rules in Connecticut," the Courant notes. "As that happened, more stores in more places began to accept food stamps." But it's also true that this recession has reached deep into the middle class. Lucy Nolan, head of End Hunger Connecticut! and a member of the Speaker's Task Force on Children in the Recession, put it this way for the Courant: "We've seen a lot of people who say they never thought they'd be on the program. All of a sudden they're out of business or out of a job."
Also according to the article, the total number of Connecticut residents enrolled in the federal food stamp program has been climbing for 28 consecutive months.
"The increase was partly driven by changes in income eligibility rules in Connecticut," the Courant notes. "As that happened, more stores in more places began to accept food stamps." But it's also true that this recession has reached deep into the middle class. Lucy Nolan, head of End Hunger Connecticut! and a member of the Speaker's Task Force on Children in the Recession, put it this way for the Courant: "We've seen a lot of people who say they never thought they'd be on the program. All of a sudden they're out of business or out of a job."
Also according to the article, the total number of Connecticut residents enrolled in the federal food stamp program has been climbing for 28 consecutive months.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Number of unemployed African-Americans and Hispanics in Connecticut on the rise
Despite a slight drop in the total number of unemployed in Connecticut from a year ago, there's "an alarming increase in the number of unemployed African-Americans and Hispanics," the state African-American Affairs Commission reports in a new issue brief (PDF).
The Commission cites data from "Labor Force Data for Affirmative Action Plans," a quarterly report of the state Labor Department. The latest edition of the report says the total number of minorities (black and Hispanic) who are unemployed rose in the first quarter of 2011 compared to a year ago, from 76,260 to 81,130. That's an increase of 2.9%.
The Commission also notes some disturbing numbers on the unemployment rate for minorities in Connecticut's nine major labor markets, concluding that in all markets "minority unemployment was disproportionate to the population." In the Bridgeport-Stamford market, blacks and Hispanics accounted for more than 60 percent of the 25,330 unemployed.
The Commission cites data from "Labor Force Data for Affirmative Action Plans," a quarterly report of the state Labor Department. The latest edition of the report says the total number of minorities (black and Hispanic) who are unemployed rose in the first quarter of 2011 compared to a year ago, from 76,260 to 81,130. That's an increase of 2.9%.
The Commission also notes some disturbing numbers on the unemployment rate for minorities in Connecticut's nine major labor markets, concluding that in all markets "minority unemployment was disproportionate to the population." In the Bridgeport-Stamford market, blacks and Hispanics accounted for more than 60 percent of the 25,330 unemployed.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Most describe college as unaffordable
Three-quarters of the Americans who participated in a Pew Research Center survey described college as too expensive for most people to afford. Still, an overwhelming majority of college graduates (86 percent) said college has been a good investment for them personally.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Speaker's Task Force reconvenes
Last year, the work of the task force led to legislation for protecting Connecticut's most vulnerable families. On May 2, the panel reconvened to get status reports on the legislation and to gather information on the latest crisis for families devastated by the recession: the looming expiration of their unemployment benefits.
Video, documents, and more | Task Force home page
Video, documents, and more | Task Force home page
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Jobs available for only 1 in 4 teenagers, study finds
Back in 2000, 45 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds nationwide found summer employment.
Those were the good old days.
A new study (PDF) from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston finds that the summer job market for teens has eroded so much in the past decade that only about 25 percent will find work this summer.
Study co-author Andrew Sum warns that this will hurt teens’ future employability. “The less work you do when you’re a teenager, the less likely it is that you work [right] after you graduate, and you’re going to end up getting lower-wage, less employment when you’re in your early- to mid-20s,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Those were the good old days.
A new study (PDF) from the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston finds that the summer job market for teens has eroded so much in the past decade that only about 25 percent will find work this summer.
Study co-author Andrew Sum warns that this will hurt teens’ future employability. “The less work you do when you’re a teenager, the less likely it is that you work [right] after you graduate, and you’re going to end up getting lower-wage, less employment when you’re in your early- to mid-20s,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
